Tag Archives: santiago

Chilean flag

While civil unions in Uruguay and marriage in Argentina were approved by legislatures — and civil unions in Ecuador were approved by voters under a new constitution — the Chilean Supreme Court may approve same-sex marriage in that country.

According to the Santiago newspaper El Mercurio, three couples have filed a lawsuit, and the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

An attorney for the couples, Jaime Silva, argues that two provisions of the Marriage Act are unconstitutional. The first states that marriage is a solemn contract in which a man and woman come together. The second recognizes that a marriage concluded abroad will be recognized in Chile provided it is between a man and a woman.

Those provisions, Silva argues, violate Article 1 and other provisions in the constitution. Article 1 begins, “Men are born free and equal, in dignity and rights.”

Last summer we reported several South American countries were considering recognizing same-sex relationships.

In Chile, a civil union bill got bogged down in the legislature. Meanwhile, no movement has been reported on the issue in Bolivia, where President Evo Morales and Vice President Álvaro García Linera live together in the presidential palace.

P.S.: That is a Chilean flag. The blue stripe extends to the bottom on the Texas flag.

Out Takes Dallas celebrated its 11th season last week by presenting awards for its prior year of programming. Here are the winners:
Best Narrative Feature-Length Film: The New Twenty
Best Narrative Short Film: Gayby
Best Documentary (Feature or Short): Training Rules: No Drinking, No Drugs, No Lesbians
Best Lead Performance in a Feature-Length Film: Javier Cámara as Maxi in Chef’s Special
Best Supporting Performance in a Feature-Length Film (tie): Bernhard Bulling as Pascal/Ueli in Soundless Wind Chime and Manolo Cardona as Santiago in Undertow
Audience Choice: Training Rules: No Drinking, No Drugs, No Lesbians

While looking at how the rescue of the Chilean miners was covered by local papers, I found an interesting study in the Santiago newspaper El Mercurio. According to the paper, futbol fans are becoming less homophobic.

El Mercurio reports that the sample consisted of 3,000 interviews.

“Attitudes towards members of the gay community who practice this sport have improved,” according to the report.

Of those interviewed, 90 percent said the only thing that mattered was the performance of a player and not their sexual orientation.

An even larger number — 93 percent — believe that homophobia in soccer is not applicable.

The percent that want professional soccer players to come out, however is lower. Only 60 percent would like the gay footballers to reveal their sexual orientation. But of the 40 percent who said they should not, the main reason was that they believed it was a private matter.